The present invention relates to electric connectors for printed circuit boards.
An electric connector of the foregoing type includes a yoke to be pulled on the edge of the printed circuit board to engage the latter, two contact plates positioned in the yoke and overlapping the upper and lower sides of the printed circuit board, respectively, and a clamping bolt received in the yoke.
One of such connectors is described in German publication DE-OS No. 3,208,065. The edge of the printed circuit board, receiving the connector is provided with two slots so that the yoke of the connector would be inserted into these slots. The contact plates are releasably inserted into the frame-shaped yoke. The upper contact plate is loaded at the upper side with the clamping bolt. The contact plates have laterally extending tongues which mechanically engage at the slots of the printed circuit board, and forces, which act normally to the plane of the printed circuit board, can be taken up.
In this known connector both contact plates are releasable from the frame-shaped yoke and can, as well as the clamping bolt, be removed from the yoke, without percussions, during the transportation.
The assembly of the connector on the printed circuit board as well as fastening of a lead in the connector have been always problematic. For assembling on the printed circuit board not only the yoke should be mounted in the slots of the printed circuit board but also both contact plates must be held one on the other to enable the board portion between two slots to receive the contact plates. Faulty assembling, at which both contact plates could be inadvertently placed either on the upper side or the lower side of the printed circuit board, can occur. A preassembling of the connector with the printed circuit board is possible mostly in a closed or clamped position because otherwise the connector might fall from the printed circuit board. For connecting a lead to the connector a user should in each case to open the connector and watch that the connector would not be separated from the pointed circuit board. In addition to that a user should hold the lower contact plate in order to insert the lead between the lower contact plate and the bottom of the yoke because the lower contact plate loosely guided in the yoke can any time drop.
Electric conductors as known in the art are often design for conducting considerably high power currents, and are normally connected to the electric paths on the upper side and the lower side of the printed circuit board at the same time. Through contacts, which can be provided on the printed circuit board, result in very small conductive areas. Usually in conventional connectors the upper and lower contact plates have an electric contact with one another via the pulling yoke. This yoke is, however, made of non-well-conductive material so that electrical connection between the upper side and the lower side of the printed circuit board is unsatisfactory.